Saturday, April 22, 2006

Even a pro-life democrat is better than Santorum!

There's an article in the NY Times today about the division within the Democratic party concerning Bob Casey. In case you don't know, Bob Casey is hoping to get the Democratic nomination for Pennsylvania senator and defeat Republican Rick Santorum (who is a faithful, pro-life Catholic). There is no doubt that Santorum is public enemy #1 according to the Dems. So, they are willing to do ANYTHING to get him out of office, including support a pro-life Democrat in Bob Casey.

However, the lefty side of the party is up in arms that Casey is being welcomed by leaders such as Hillary and Reid. They argue that the party cannot support pro-life anything...that this is a civil rights issue and to support a candidate such as Casey is hypocritical.

Oh, and for you Catholics out there in Pennsylvania who are excited that the Democrats are putting a pro-life candidate on the ballot...here's a quote from Sen. Boxer that might make you think first:

Senator Barbara Boxer, the California Democrat who for many years has squared off against Mr. Santorum on abortion, said she had been "making the case" for Mr. Casey "all over the country," arguing that his support for birth control, emergency contraception and international family planning programs make him a "huge improvement" over Mr. Santorum. She also reminds her audiences, she said, that Mr. Casey's election would help deliver control of the Senate to the Democrats.

So, Mr. Casey maybe be pro-life, but his answer to reducing abortions is more contraception to more people...NOT a Catholic position. Just FYI.

LANCASTER, Pa., April 20 — As the Democratic Party tries to inch its way toward a new, less polarized politics of abortion, seeking some common ground between supporters and opponents of abortion rights, there is no better case study than the Pennsylvania Senate race.

Many supporters of abortion rights — sometimes grudgingly, sometimes led more by their minds than by their hearts — are lining up behind Bob Casey Jr., a Democratic contender for the Senate who opposes abortion rights. The invitation to a recent Casey event in Philadelphia, raising money for his campaign to unseat Senator Rick Santorum, a Republican, perhaps captured the mood. "Pragmatic Progressive Women for Casey," it declared.

The nine Democratic women in the Senate, including some of the strongest advocates of abortion rights, recently signed a letter of support that struck a similar note, describing Mr. Casey's election as "critical to our efforts of regaining the majority in the U.S. Senate."

Mr. Casey himself is emphasizing that while there is "tremendous disagreement" on abortion, there is also a broad consensus of which he is a part: to reduce the number of abortions by reducing the number of unintended pregnancies, through greater access to contraception and family planning.

Other Democratic leaders have been making similar appeals to this "prevention consensus," including, in an op-ed article this week in The Times Union of Albany, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York, a supporter of abortion rights, and Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the Democratic leader, who describes himself as pro-life.

Critics dismiss these efforts as mere political posturing, an effort to obscure the profound divide on abortion's morality and legality. But since the 2004 election, many Democratic strategists have argued that the party must find a way to signal tolerance to opposing views on this issue, and sensitivity to conflicting values.

1 Comments:

Casey is not pro-life, he is anti-abortion. You can't call a guy who favors the death penalty, favors going into and staying in Iraq, and who said we should keep a preemptive nuclear attack on Iran on the table, "pro-life".